greener grass everywhere

No matter what, in this life you will always find something else you want... something you don't have, something you can't get. Doesn't matter who you are or where you're from, there's bound to be something you want but don't have!

Now, I have this ring you see. And I try to take pictures of it... but my lenses, not made for this kind of photography! I try and try, I make what I have work. But then you get the real deal in your hands and *POW* it works like butter. Just like you always thought it should work.



I felt that way the first time I held my 5D. For months I struggled in photoshop working images for hours on end to get them to look just so...

the first images I looked through from the 5D I melted into a puddle realizing how beautiful they came SOOC {straight out of the camera}



These two particular pictures were taken with a Nikon D700 {Andrea's D700 to be exact} with the Nikon 105mm f/2.8 macro. Butter I tell you. Snap snap is all it took and this girl was sold.

If grass weren't greener on the other side there would be no reason for change. No reason to get better at things. No reason to excel...

But there is, so I see this not as a classic case of envy but rather a learning experience. One which will help me to see what tools I need to do even better work ;)

new addition to the family!

It occurs to me far too often that being a photographer and all I should post inventory of my camera equipment. I am always interested to know what other photogs that I know and love are rocking. Before I was married I even had the cute idea to put all my stuff in one section and call it "what's in my bag" and all steve's equipment in another and call it "almost in my bag" ha, clever... lol.

Anyways, since I have yet to do all that, and being that I acquired quite a bit of equipment through marriage, that post is going to have to wait a while. But I can share with you the newest addition to the Robinson family right now :)

Meet our cute Canon 85mm f/1.8 :)



I know my 5D will take good care of it when I'm not around...



Ahh the love :) the pictures that I posted yesterday and here were all taken with the 85 wide open. I would have rather closed it down a little for clarity, but I decided on this impromptu photo shoot too late in the day to rely on natural light very well {grin}

Goin to a wedding in Maryland this weekend that Steve is a groomsmen in and I will be trying very hard to be more like Rachel and less like Uncle Bob...

Anyhoo, after dinner tonight I will let you all know what we had! Yummmmmmm... :D

Ginger

In my google reader I have 116 subscriptions. Some people update, some people don't... like me ;)

But there are a few blogs I have had in there for the almost 3 years I've been using it and one of them is Maile Wilson. I don't know if it's because she grew up in Hawaii or because her style is so freakin awesome, but what I do know is that she is one of my biggest inspirations when it comes to photography.

A couple months ago she announced on her blog that she had started a brand new line of camera bags for women. I was instantly smitten and resolved that someday I would get one! Hopefully sooner than later, but realistically, later.

So I pined away and looked at the bags over and over :) I told steve about it not suggesting that he should get one for me, but more looking for approval to spend money on it when we have other things to spend money on right now... like you know, the wedding and all {hehe}

Last week Steve and I were out shopping for some fish paraphernalia hoping to save my little betta and we stopped at the Christmas tree store... whereupon we bought a few things and when we put them into his trunk he pulled out a present for me.



There she is! I absolutely love love love this bag and am so happy he bought it for me! Apparently he thought with all my talk about it that I was putting on the "full court press" vying for him to get it for me... but I wasn't! In all honesty, I don't do that! I was just trying to get him to tell me it was ok to buy it myself. but this is even better!

I am looooooving my new bag and am so excited to take it to Denver next week with me to visit Beka. Check out the other bags and i'm sure you'll want one too ;)

it finally came

I have been waiting and waiting to get this lens. When I got my 5D a couple months ago, my trusty rusty tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 didn't fit. So I sold it pretty quickly as the resale of that lens had gone WAY down in the 5 months I owned it.

I have had my eye on this new one for quite a while, and finally saved up enough for it. I found it for a good price... but what I think is a good price, may not be so nice to you haha! Let me tell you, at this point, I don't even bat an eye at a $500 price tag on photographic equipment. In fact, anything less than that, i may even consider cheap... this is what photography does to you.

Anyways, after much todo, ie me not being home when the lens was delivered etc, my dad being the great guy that he is, went out and tracked down the ups man to get it for me! What a nice dad :)

I had planned on Monday to do a whole mini-shoot with the lens to have some stuff to post... however, comma, being that the lens did not arrive until yesterday, and after I got a beater cold... I was in no mood to do anything last night.

Well, after I got home from work, I pulled that baby out of the box and after cleaning it, set to work. I was having a blast shooting basically in the dark. Let me tell you, with the combination of the 5D and the lens... i may just be unstoppable. This thing shoots almost anywhere!

After dinner, I started to feel a bit better, so I decided to go out for a bit. went to small group and then to see the boy in striped pajamas (this movie was one of the most horrible movies i've ever seen... but i don't regret seeing it. it was about the holocaust from a German boy's perspective)

Upon putting some makeup on, and realizing that it looked better than most days (to me at least) I decided to shoot just a bit with the bees (my strobes)

I had a specific shot in mind, but being that the whole thing is so darn heavy now, I could only manage to do this one.



Maybe tomorrow i'll work with my mom to get some more. I seriously can't handle the clarity this lens gives me. I was tempted to run a sharpening action on my eyes here, but couldn't bring myself to. They are just ridiculous untouched! Imagine what it would be like even sharper! AHH!

Well, I'm closing in on only 45 minutes left before I pick up the kid. I have so many things to do in that space of time! should i read... watch csi... facebook... blog... pictures... sleep... the possibilities are endless... which is exactly the problem! Anyways, more pictures to come later on this week i'm sure.

you spent WHAT?!

Eww... I just spent an ungodly amount of money on a lens...

But yay i'll finally have one I can use!

I'll post more about that later...

handle with care

after checking the status of my package and realizing that it was indeed AT MY HOUSE, and I WAS NOT, I quickly devised a strategy to book it home and retrieve it.

that strategy included waking up andy.

he got to sleep for 45 minutes... plenty right?

well, here it is. Fragile: handle with care. like the 3 tears in the box there? That's nice I think.


There are about 25 or so pictures of me actually opening the box, and what i did with the camera in those precious first few moments... but they're so intimate i feel uncomfortable sharing them on here.


Good lord people! It's a camera for crying out loud! Not a stinking CHILD!!!

But my goodness, it was very, very exciting to open this thing up.

Nothing could have prepared me for the extreme happiness I feel holding this camera.

Just tonight I set up the lights in the dining room and hung up a sheet to do some test shots... there's no way i could ever go back now...

from the moment I decided to get this camera I had this feeling that I should never use the camera before actually owning it. Because once I did, it would be over. I would never be able to use my camera without feeling annoyed that i couldn't do "this" or "that." I couldn't know what I was missing out on... but now I know... and it is soooo good :)

I'll spare you all the crazy photographer mumbo jumbo, just trust me when I say it's good

So here is my fave from the night.

This particular shot is completely unedited. i am simply LOVING the fact that I can shoot in b&w. I never thought I would want to... that i would want the option always of having color... but now... I don't know... I liked the bw shots tonight so much more than the color.

We shot just under a hundred and what's so cool about using the lights is that once they are set, you just shoot. You don't have to worry about exposure at all... you already did that. So I sat down and had my mom shoot me too, and that's where the pic at the top of this post came from. It's also for the benefit of those who wanted to see my face when I wouldn't show it the other night.

That's it for now... I must force myself to go to bed, because as I explained yesterday I have been getting up at unearthly times... and will continue to do so...

i am trying

to contain my excitement.

But let me tell you, it is REALLY hard!!!

I bought my 5D like a week and a half ago, and it's STILL NOT HERE!

But tonight, I received the shipping notification and it will be here in the next few days! WOOHOO!!!

Pictures will be forthcoming...

But if you can't wait until then, check out the photography blog and see what i've been up to :)

my first guest post!

Today, I'm over here at Sgt and Mrs Hub giving a review about the camera I currently use.

It's my first guest post, and honestly I'm a little beside myself. What is the proper etiquette in a case such as this?

Should I sit in front of the computer all day and STALK her blog just so that I can see the comments coming in???

I could continue speculating as to what my options are... but i'll just stop there. because going any further would be just that. speculation. Since my intent IS to sit her and stalk the blog aaaall day LOL!

Too bad i actually have a life... otherwise my butt might become attached to the chair. besides having a life, there is a 7 month old in the background who has decided to wake up... Well I guess if he never actually went to sleep... he's not really waking up.

This brings me to a point I have been meaning to make for like at least a month and have not gotten to doing it yet!

About a month and a half ago, I took on a new charge. He was 5 months at the time, he's now 7. and his name is Jonah. He is super adorable and soooo laid back. Except when it's time to go to sleep. HA! I won't even go into that.


He's adorable right? Seriously, his cuteness makes up for the whole not sleeping thing LOL!

I just basically wanted to share him with the blog world and give myself yet another excuse for my highly intermittent blogging.

Alrighty, I'm back to stalking Andrea's blog now! Come on over and check it out :)


post from one year ago yesterday (again with the yesterday, but seriously, if it was lame, i would just skip it. and trust me, there were a lot of lame ones. this one's actually funny): where are you black sweatshirt?

I'm freaking out right now!!!

Today is the day!

I've known this day was coming for awhile...

And i've had mixed feelings about it.

But now that it's here, I'm about ready to scream and jump up and down!!!

Today, they introduced the BRAND NEW Canon 5D Mark II!

I know, I know... I'm a dork...

But I'm a photographer, can you blame me?!

I've been planning on buying the 5D for a couple months now... and am quite close to having enough money.

I've done my research baby, and the 5D is exactly what I want/need and more than I could ask for.

It's an amazing quality pro-level camera and I have not heard ONE BAD thing about it.

So now, they came out with it's successor... what am I to do?!

It's so brand spanking new, that I can't even find the price anywhere.

I imagine it's a boatload, but still... a girl needs to know!

So if you know how much it is, or find a site that actually lists the price, help me out here!

And if you're a fellow photographer, please feel free to leave your drool comments.

my modeling career

is a mythical tale, however my new camera bag IS NOT!

I am so very excited to have this in my possession... so much so that I am actually posting these pretty much awful pictures of me on the internet.



And before you go and tell me that "no, of course you don't look awful!" let me just say this. Not everyday is a "I feel horribly unattractive" day for me. In fact there are far more good days than days like that. Today just happens to be one of them :) and that's ok!

Anyways, I want to reiterate how much I puffy heart LOVE my new bag. Thanks Rachel for all your help while I was deciding!

In addition to the bag, I also now have my super amazing and rockin old school ipod! Who knew that ipods could be old school already? Well, apparently they are. It's an ipod mini. I've never even heard of that... Well, they WERE taken off the market 3 years ago! that's why!

But it's mine, and I love it... so I am pretty much set for my super exciting and fantabulous trip to Mexico! I still need to get a portable hard drive thingy, but there's time for that.

I'm off to take a shower so that I feel acceptable in public and then out to buy a bike rack for my car!